Barbara Strozzilaan 336
1083 HN Amsterdam
The Netherlands
gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

Item 01 – Draft summary of the GSSB
meeting held on 4 March 2021
For GSSB approval
Date

15 April 2021

Meeting29 April 2021

Description

This document presents the summary of the GSSB virtual meeting held on 4March 2021.

This document has been prepared by the GRI Standards Division and is made available to observers
at meetings of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB). It does not represent an official
position of the GSSB. Board positions are set out in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. TheGSSB is the independent standard setting body of GRI. For more information visit
www.globalreporting.org.

© GRI 2021

1

ContentsParticipants.............................................................................................................................................. 3
List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 3
Decisions and action items ..................................................................................................................... 4
Session 1: Welcome ............................................................................................................................... 4
Session 2: GRI Universal Standards project – Reporting model ............................................................ 5
Focus on in accordance ................................................................................................................... 5
Reasons for omission ...................................................................................................................... 5
Appropriate disclosures ................................................................................................................... 6
Statement of use .............................................................................................................................. 7
Session 3: Any other business and close of public meeting ................................................................... 7Page 2 of 72Participants

3Present:

456

Name

Constituency

Judy Kuszewski

Chair

Robyn Leeson

Vice-Chair

Loredana Carta

LaborPeter Colley

Labor

Giulia Genuardi

Business enterprise

Evan Harvey

Investment institution

Joseph Martin

Business enterpriseJennifer Princing

Business enterprise

Corli le RouxMediating institution

Kim Schumacher

Civil society organization

Gustavo SinnerMediating institution

Kenton Swift

Civil society organization

Michel Washer

Business enterprise

Apologies:
NameConstituency

Vincent Kong

Business enterpriseRama Krishnan Venkateswaran

Investment institution

In attendance from GRI:
NamePositionBastian Buck

Chief of Standards

Anna Krotova

Senior Manager

Sharon Hagen

Senior CoordinatorMia d’Adhemar

Senior Manager

List of abbreviations
GSSBSDRfO

Global Sustainability Standards Board
Standards Division
Reasons for omission

Page 3 of 7

7Decisions and action items

8Decisions

9

There were no GSSB Decisions in this meeting.

10Action items
GSSB
Session 2•

GSSB to review the proposal on the revised statement of use
and provide comments and questions in preparation for thenext GSSB meeting.

Standards Division
Session 2•SD to explore an assessment of uptake and use of GRI
referenced reports.

•SD to use amended wording to frame ‘in accordance’ as therecommended reporting approach in the Universal Standards.

•SD to permit reasons for omission (RfOs) for disclosures in GRI
102 and GRI 103, except for the discussed list of suggested
disclosures where RfOs are not permitted.

•

SD to explore the integration and explanation of the new ‘item
does not exist’ RfO and RfOs in general.

•SD to use amended wording ‘the organization shall reportappropriate disclosures from the GRI Topic Standards’ inRequirement 5 in GRI 101 (Requirement A-5 in the exposuredraft).

•SD to add a requirement in GRI 101 to list and explain the ‘notappropriate’ disclosures from the GRI Sector Standards.

11Session 1: Welcome

12

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) Chair Judy Kuszewski (henceforth the Chair)

13

welcomed the GSSB and presented an overview of the meeting agenda.

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Session 2: GRI Universal

15Standards project – Reporting model

16

Focus on in accordance

17

The Standards Division (SD) presented a revised proposal for framing ‘in accordance’ reporting as the18recommended approach in the Universal Standards and amending the draft wording accordingly.

19GSSB members expressed support for the proposal. A GSSB member asked for clarification on how

20

this would influence organizations using the GRI Topic Standards to report on a specific topic.

21

The SD stated that these GRI referenced reports make up a limited percentage of reports in the GRI

22

database. The SD also stated that the data on the number of GRI referenced reports is currently

23

inconclusive and warrants a closer look with planned future changes to the report monitoring process.

24

The Chair confirmed the GSSB’s support to frame ‘in accordance’ reporting as the recommended

25

approach in the Universal Standards.

26

Actions:27

•

28
29

SD to explore an assessment of uptake and use of GRI referenced reports as part of theongoing monitoring.

•30

SD to use amended wording to frame ‘in accordance’ as the recommended reporting
approach in the Universal Standards.

31

Reasons for omission

32

The Standards Division presented two proposals for permitting reasons for omission (RfOs) for33

disclosures in the Universal Standards. Proposal 1 permitted the use of RfOs for all disclosures in

34

GRI 102 and GRI 103, and Proposal 2 permitted the use of RfOs for all but a subset of disclosures

35

from GRI 102 and GRI 103 deemed critical to contextualize the organization’s reporting.

36

The GSSB discussed the relevance and utility of the two proposals. The GSSB expressed general37

support for Proposal 2, with some discussion of whether the list of disclosures for which RfOs are not38

permitted was appropriate.

39

A GSSB member questioned whether Disclosure MT-3 in GRI 103 should be included in the list. The40

SD responded that if an organization did not have a method to manage impacts to be reported under

41

Disclosure MT-3, it would be useful to permit an RfO to capture that information in the GRI content

42index.

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43

Another GSSB member questioned whether Disclosure REP-5 in GRI 102 should permit an RfO. The

44

SD stated that organizations would not be required to seek external assurance, but that they must use

45

an RfO to explicitly state if their sustainability reporting has not been externally assured, providing

46

information that gives clarity about the quality of the organization’s report.

47

The GSSB also discussed the reporting expectation for the newly proposed RfO ‘item does not exist’,48

including the potential confusion between responding to a disclosure that the required information49

does not exist, and providing an RfO that the item does not exist.

50

The GSSB further discussed the possibility that it would be easier for an organization to report that it

51

did not have a policy to comply with the requirement in Disclosure MT-3 rather than formulate an RfO

52

response, indicating that it would be unlikely for organizations to use an RfO, even if it was permitted.

53

The GSSB expressed support for Proposal 2 - permitting RfOs for all but a subset of disclosures54

critical for contextualizing the organization’s reporting, not including Disclosure MT-3. It also

55

supported introducing a new RfO for reporting items that do not exist, with an expectation to further

56

discuss the integration of this additional RfO and the level of explanation needed for the use of RfOs

57

in general.

58

Actions:59

•60
61
62

SD to permit reasons for omission (RfOs) for disclosures in GRI 102 and GRI 103, except forthe discussed list of suggested disclosures where RfOs are not permitted.

•SD to explore the integration and explanation of the new ‘item does not exist’ RfO and RfOsin general.

63

Appropriate disclosures

64

The SD presented a revised proposal for Requirement A-5 in GRI 101 to address confusion about the65

concept of ‘corresponding GRI Topics Standards’ when reporting appropriate disclosures for each66

identified material topic.

67

The GSSB supported the proposal to reformulate the requirement to clarify that a reporting

68

organization is required to use all Topic Standards that cover the material topics, and report all69

appropriate disclosures from those Standards, irrespective of whether the title of the Topic Standard

70

corresponds to the name of the material topic.

71

The SD further proposed to not add the requirement to list and explain the ‘not appropriate’72

disclosures from the Topic Standards in the GRI content index, as was agreed during the GSSB

73

meeting held on 10 December 2020. Instead, the SD proposed to include a requirement to list and74

explain the ‘not appropriate’ disclosures from the GRI Sector Standards. The SD stated that this75

change would reduce complexity and improve the utility of reported information. The SD provided

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examples of reporting scenarios following the requirements to list and explain the ‘not appropriate’77

disclosures in a situation when Sector Standards are available and when they are not available.

78

The GSSB acknowledged that the current reporting system would be prohibitively complex. They also

79

discussed that organizations may have difficulty selecting appropriate disclosures for material topics

80

without an applicable Sector Standard, and that as most Sector Standards still need to be developed

81

this leaves potential gaps in reporting on the disclosures that are deemed not appropriate. They also

82

discussed that these potential gaps are a reasonable trade-off to avoid an overly complex and long83

content index that lists many meaningless ‘not appropriate’ reasons for omission.

84

The GSSB further discussed that listing and explaining the ‘not appropriate’ disclosures from the85

Sector Standards in the content index will make the content index more useful for evaluating the86

content and quality of the report.

87

The GSSB expressed support for changing the requirement to list and explain the ‘not appropriate’88

disclosures from the Sector Standards.

89

Actions:90

•

91
92

SD to use amended wording ‘the organization shall report appropriate disclosures from theGRI Topic Standards’ in Requirement 5 in GRI 101 (Requirement A-5 in the exposure draft).

•93

SD to add a requirement in GRI 101 to list and explain the ‘not appropriate’ disclosures fromthe GRI Sector Standards.

94

Statement of use

95

The Chair acknowledged that there was not enough time remaining to address the ‘revised statement96

of use’ agenda item. Thus, the GSSB will review the proposal on the revised statement of use and will

97

provide comments and questions in preparation for the next GSSB meeting.

98

Actions:99•100

GSSB to review the proposal on the revised statement of use and provide comments andquestions in preparation for the next GSSB meeting.

101

Session 3: Any other business and102

close of public meeting

103

No other business was raised, and the Chair closed the meeting at 15.04 CET (Central European104Time).

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